Page 7 of Gift from the Wing
His warning finally cuts through the rage-filled haze and panic immediately sets in. Trying but failing to jerk my arm free, the pull of the ward continues to drag me back, refusing to release me.
“Guys…” I tremble, staring at them with wide, shocked eyes.
I’m not getting out of wherever this is about to take me.
“I’m so sorry.”
Their bodies vibrate with the effort it’s taking them to try to break through whatever this stasis is that’s keeping them from moving, but it’s a useless feat.
Slicing through the vine tied around my wrist, I shoot a watery smile to Gaster, apologizing with my eyes for not being strong like he was. I apologize for letting my grief take control when a piece of my soul splintered off.
“He loved us both. So, so much,” I murmur in his mind.
His frantic gaze searches for a way out for me. He scours every nook and cranny he can see in the ward before letting his eyes settle on mine.
“Gaster, no!” I shout, but it’s too late.
The explosion is outwardly massive, but it sucks my body backward through a swirling void of rainbow to whatever awaits me on the other side.
But I’m not alone.
I’m wrapped in the arms of my only livingGuardria.
Two
Willow
Time seems meaningless as Gaster and I get thrown around every which way through the fabric of this ward.
Realistically, seconds have passed, but the way we’re slamming into the sides of this deadly rainbow repeatedly as we fall through existence makes it seem like an eon’s gone by.
The fibers of this void are connected to Elementra, that much is clear as her presence swarms me, but it doesn’t bring me any comfort.
The queasiness brought on by a transport is a cakewalk compared to this. My stomach flips mercilessly as our bodies are tossed around like nothing more than rag dolls and I wish, pray, for a transport at this moment. Hell, ten simultaneous ones if it means getting me out of this never-ending vortex.
“Hold on, Willow,” Gaster orders and he wraps his arms around me tighter. Too tight.
A scream gets lodged in my throat as the unyielding pressure surrounding us begins to squeeze to the point it’s painful, unbearable.
It’s smothering.
Suddenly, we stop tumbling head over heels and plummet through a now colorless void. My stomach lurches even more as gravity seems to reassert itself in this new level of our descent.
With a forceful shove, Gaster and I are ejected through the final layer of the ward and the noise that’s been building up in my throat roars out of me as we hit the solid ground with a bone-jarring thud. The impact sends a shockwave through my body, causing me to cry out and Gaster to huff a harsh breath of air, but we have no time for any other reactions.
We soar across the floor like we’ve been shot from a cannon until my senses come rumbling back and I send out a burst of air that blocks us from crashing into a wall.
Holy shit.
I roll off Gaster unceremoniously, hitting the floor with a bone-deep groan, and I let my heavy, shaking limbs fall beside me as I squeeze my eyes shut tight. The spinning from the ward has only intensified the dizziness I felt before getting sucked through and I’m seconds away from losing my breakfast.
“Here, sit up and drink,” Gaster commands gently, wrapping his hand around my elbow to pull me up.
“How in the realm did a healing vial survive that, Gaster? And how do you not feel like you’ve been tossed in a dryer?” I groan and my world spins as I struggle to push myself up.
“Why would being dried toss you around?”
“Never mind,” I mumble, washing down the saliva collecting in my mouth with the healing vial.